Can summary measures of magnitude and structure of trunk movement variability differentiate between people with and without chronic low back pain?

Background: There is inconsistent evidence suggesting that people with chronic low back pain may differ in variability of repeated trunk movements compared to people without chronic low back pain. These inconsistencies may be due to low reliability and task dependence of movement variability measures, which can be addressed using multiple movement tasks and summary measures.

Methods: Participants with and without chronic low back pain were recruited.

Constant torque stretching in ankle contractures results in greater changes in range of motion than constant angle or dynamic stretching: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: To investigate the acute (directly post-stretching) and long-term (≥1 week of treatment) effects of stretching type, duration, and intensity on joint range of motion (ROM) and stiffness in ankle contractures.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase.com, Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science Core Collection, EBSCO/SPORTDiscus, and EBSCO/CINAHL were searched for studies published in English from inception until September 12, 2023.

Balance training in older adults enhances feedback control after perturbations.

Background: As we age, avoiding falls becomes increasingly challenging. While balance training can mitigate such challenges, the specific mechanisms through which balance control improves remains unclear.

Methods: We investigated the impact of balance training in older adults on feedback control after perturbations, focusing on kinematic balance recovery strategies and muscle synergy activation.

The Effect of the Nordic Hamstring Exercise on Hamstring Muscle Activity Distribution During High-Speed Running Estimated Using Multichannel Electromyography: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the Nordic hamstring exercise on normalized muscle activity and relative contribution of the biceps femoris long head, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus through multichannel electromyography in the late-swing phase of high-speed running.

Design: A pragmatic, 2-arm, single-center randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly assigned to a Nordic group or control group.

Complexities and challenges of translating intervention success to real world gait in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Unstable gait leading to falls negatively impacts the quality of life in many people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Systematic review evidence provides moderate to strong evidence of efficacy for a wide range of physiotherapy-based interventions to reduce gait impairment. However, outcomes have often focused on gait assessments conducted in controlled laboratory or clinical environments.

Exploring unsupervised feature extraction of IMU-based gait data in stroke rehabilitation using a variational autoencoder.

Background: Variational AutoEncoders (VAE) might be utilized to extract relevant information from an IMU-based gait measurement by reducing the sensor data to a low-dimensional representation. The present study explored whether VAEs can reduce IMU-based gait data of people after stroke into a few latent features with minimal reconstruction error. Additionally, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the latent features in comparison to gait speed, by assessing 1) their reliability; 2) the difference in scores between people after stroke and healthy controls; and 3) their responsiveness during rehabilitation.

The effect of head orientation on vestibular signal-based modulation of paraspinal muscle activity during walking.

Background: Vestibulospinal reflexes play a role in maintaining the upright posture of the trunk. Head orientation has been shown to modify the vestibulospinal reflexes during standing. This study investigated how vestibular signals affect paraspinal muscle activity during walking, and whether head orientation changes these effects.

Precision of trunk movement in people with chronic low back pain.

Background: Motor control exercise is commonly applied in people with chronic low back pain (CLBP), but possibly not all people with CLBP have motor control impairments. We suggest movement precision as measure to identify motor control impairments. Movement precision has been operationalized as trunk movement variability (TMV) and as trunk tracking error(s) (TTE).

Assessment of stabilizing feedback control of walking: A tutorial.

Walking without falling requires stabilization of the trajectory of the body center of mass relative to the base of support. Model studies suggest that this requires active, feedback control, i.e.

Application of ultrasound to monitor in vivo residual bone movement within transtibial prosthetic sockets.

Transtibial prosthetic users do often struggle to achieve an optimal prosthetic fit, leading to residual limb pain and stump-socket instability. Prosthetists face challenges in objectively assessing the impact of prosthetic adjustments on residual limb loading. Understanding the mechanical behaviour of the pseudo-joint formed by the residual bone and prosthesis may facilitate prosthetic adjustments and achieving optimal fit.

Beyond gait speed: exploring the added value of Inertial Measurement Unit-based measurements of gait in the estimation of the walking ability in daily life.

Background: Gait speed is often used to estimate the walking ability in daily life in people after stroke. While measuring gait with inertial measurement units (IMUs) during clinical assessment yields additional information, it remains unclear if this information can improve the estimation of the walking ability in daily life beyond gait speed.

Objective: We evaluated the additive value of IMU-based gait features over a simple gait-speed measurement in the estimation of walking ability in people after stroke.

Towards standardisation of surface electromyography measurements in the horse: Bipolar electrode location.

The use of surface electromyography in the field of animal locomotion has increased considerably over the past decade. However, no consensus exists on the methodology for data collection in horses. This study aimed to start the development of recommendations for bipolar electrode locations to collect surface electromyographic data from horses during dynamic tasks.

Consensus for experimental design in electromyography (CEDE) project: Checklist for reporting and critically appraising studies using EMG (CEDE-Check).

The diversity in electromyography (EMG) techniques and their reporting present significant challenges across multiple disciplines in research and clinical practice, where EMG is commonly used. To address these challenges and augment the reproducibility and interpretation of studies using EMG, the Consensus for Experimental Design in Electromyography (CEDE) project has developed a checklist (CEDE-Check) to assist researchers to thoroughly report their EMG methodologies. Development involved a multi-stage Delphi process with seventeen EMG experts from various disciplines.

Poor lumbar spine coordination in acute low back pain predicts persistent long-term pain and disability.

Purpose: Sitting balance on an unstable surface requires coordinated out-of-phase lumbar spine and provides sufficient challenge to expose quality of spine control. We investigated whether the quality of spine coordination to maintain balance in acute low back pain (LBP) predicts recovery at 6 months.

Methods: Participants in an acute LBP episode (n = 94) underwent assessment of sitting balance on an unstable surface.

Therapeutic validity and replicability of power training interventions in older adults: A review using the TIDieR checklist and CONTENT scale.

Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate that power training has the ability to improve muscle power and physical performance in older adults. However, power training definitions are broad and previously-established criteria are vague, making the validity and replicability of power training interventions used in RCTs uncertain.

Objective: The aim of this review was to assess whether the power training interventions identified in a previous systematic review (el Hadouchi 2022) are fully described, therapeutically valid, and meet our proposed criteria for power training.

Trunk postural control during unstable sitting among individuals with and without low back pain: A systematic review with an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Introduction: Sitting on an unstable surface is a common paradigm to investigate trunk postural control among individuals with low back pain (LBP), by minimizing the influence lower extremities on balance control. Outcomes of many small studies are inconsistent (e.g.

Vertebral level specific modulation of paraspinal muscle activity based on vestibular signals during walking.

Evoking muscle responses by electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS) may help to understand the contribution of the vestibular system to postural control. Although paraspinal muscles play a role in postural stability, the vestibulo-muscular coupling of these muscles during walking has rarely been studied. This study aimed to investigate how vestibular signals affect paraspinal muscle activity at different vertebral levels during walking with preferred and narrow step width.

Neural Correlates of Balance Skill Learning in Young and Older Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Despite the increasing number of research studies examining the effects of age on the control of posture, the number of annual fall-related injuries and deaths continues to increase. A better understanding of how old age affects the neural mechanisms of postural control and how countermeasures such as balance training could improve the neural control of posture to reduce falls in older individuals is therefore necessary. The aim of this review is to determine the effects of age on the neural correlates of balance skill learning measured during static (standing) and dynamic (walking) balance tasks in healthy individuals.

Can intermittent changes in trunk extensor muscle length delay muscle fatigue development?

Muscle length changes may evoke alternating activity and consequently reduce local fatigue and pain during prolonged static bending. The aim of this study was to assess whether a postural intervention involving intermittent trunk extensor muscle length changes (INTERMITTENT) can delay muscle fatigue during prolonged static bending when compared to a near-isometric condition (ISOMETRIC) or when participants were allowed to voluntarily vary muscle length (VOLUNTARY). These three conditions were completed by 11 healthy fit male participants, in three separate sessions of standing with 30 ± 3 degrees trunk inclination until exhaustion.

Increased velocity feedback gains in the presence of sensory noise can explain paradoxical changes in trunk motor control related to back pain.

Literature reports paradoxical findings regarding effects of low-back pain (LBP) on trunk motor control. Compared to healthy individuals, patients with LBP, especially those with high pain-related anxiety, showed stronger trunk extensor reflexes and more resistance against perturbations. On the other hand, LBP patients and especially those with high pain-related anxiety showed decreased precision in unperturbed trunk movement and posture.